MA MA - Alice M. Corbett, 20, Northampton, 13 Nov 1925

[MadMcGoo]

Missing From: Northampton, Massachusetts
Missing Since: November 13, 1925
Age: 19-20 years
Race: White
Sex: Female
Clothing: She was last seen wearing a dark dress and hat and a distinctive yellow rain slicker. She was believed to be carrying $75 in cash.
Medical Condition: She may have been suffering from mental illness at the time she disappeared.

Circumstances:
Born and raised in Utica, New York, Alice Corbett was a junior-year student in good academic standing at the time she disappeared.

Early on the morning of Friday, November 13, Jean M. Robeson, a fellow student and friend of Corbett, was found dead in her dormitory room as a result of accidental asphyxiation by illuminating gas. Later, at about 8 a.m., Corbett was observed leaving her room in the Clark House dormitory. When she failed to return later that afternoon, friends entered her quarters and discovered a note in Corbett's handwriting. College officials examined the note and reported that it contained the line “Mother, I am going home” and included content indicating that Corbett was in a “confused” state of mind. Corbett's father James showed the note to a physician who determined that she may have been suffering from mental illness at the time she disappeared.

Before her disappearance, Corbett was dating Thomas Sterling, a student at nearby Amherst College. Sterling reported to police that Corbett asked him to buy her poison a week before she disappeared. He refused the request. Police also examined letters exchanged by Corbett and Sterling indicating they recently quarreled. In December, Sterling was cleared of any involvement in Corbett's disappearance.

Corbett was last seen wearing a dark dress and hat and a distinctive yellow rain slicker. She was believed to be carrying $75 in cash.

Disappearance of Alice Corbett - Wikipedia

Alice M. Corbett (1906-1925) - Find A Grave...

14 Nov 1925, 8 - The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com


14 May 1929, 65 - Times Union at Newspapers.com


*The second article indicates a torso found in the East River in May 1929 was initially thought to be that of Alice. I didn’t find anything after that indicating whether or not it turned out to be her. There were bodies found in 1928 and 1936, both determined not to be Alice.

 

[Savemecastiel]

Following

 

[Diane Redfern]

I also found these:
True Detective Mysteries, November 1929
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unresolved...stery_of_frances_st_john_smith_alice_corbett/

This case is very weird because the area appeared to be "cursed" like... if it was the scene of a series of unfortunate events.
First, Jean Robeson's death (accidental) and Alice Corbett disappearance in 1925. Three years later, Frances Smith (also a Smith College student) disappeared and her body is located on March, 1929; apparently she has committed suicide. Curiously, Frances was a friend of Anna Morrow (mother of baby Lindbergh). In 1948, an article mentioned the strange string of disappearances of Alice Corbett, Etta Riel (the suspect is clear in Etta's case) and Paula Welden, all of them university students in New England.

I don't think there was a serial killer on the area, not saying there wasn't, but it is so weird that young women, with brilliant futures ahead, died or went missing in the span of two decades...

Here you can see that there were many cases in that area... I always thought New England was one of the safest regions in the US.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unresolved...stery_of_frances_st_john_smith_alice_corbett/

If I had to guess what happened to Alice, I would say she was extremelly shocked because of her friend's death. I think she may have felt lost and confused; maybe she just wanted to be alone or go home at the begining, but eventually she may have developed amnesia and started to feel more depressed. It appears that authorities nor the family made public the whole content of the note.
I really think she may have fallen into Connecticut river (accidentally or on purpose) and that her body was never found.

Anyway, what a bad run for New England students!

Edit: I found a photo of Alice: https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/747/...=pjpg&quality=80&version=1213378862&width=512

 

[MadMcGoo]

Nice find! It gives her vital stats too.

Height: 5’7”
Weight: 112 pounds
Hair Color: Dark Brown (shingled bob style)
Eye Color: Grey
Complexion: Medium
Build: Slender
Clothing: Brownish colored jersey one piece dress, small narrow collar; black Windsor tie, open neck; low heel tan leather slippers, pump style; small tight fighting brown velour hat, trimmed with a piece of same material resembling a feather on lower right side of hat; small plain white gold wrist watch with ribbon.

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

So mental illness and her wanting to purchase poison seemingly points to the possibility that she was unstable and / or suicidal. If that were the case, it would make sense if she fell or jumped in the river because otherwise why wouldn't her body have been found? So sad how many people suffering from mental illness wander away and are never found again.

 

[Diane Redfern]

There were several sightings of her on the area; it seems authorities took very seriously two reports: a Hadley resident who said he saw a young woman in a yellow raincoat (it is mentioned on Wikipedia she was wearing that piece of clothing) walking walking down an embankment toward the Connecticut River in Hadley; and also the report of someone who saw a yellow raincoat floating on the same area of the river.

 

[Diane Redfern]

Was the torso identified? I couldn't find it on NamUs and Alice's case isn't there either.
It is weird... the torso was found on 13th of May, 1929, but the article says: "It was suggested that the torso might be that of Alice M. Corbett (...), whose disappearance last November caused a futile nation-wide search". Last November? It was in 1925, four years earlier...